1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to monoclonal antibodies against antigens associated with lymphoma, hybrid cell lines producing these antibodies, and methods of using these monoclonal antibodies.
2. Description of the Background Art
The lymphomas are a group of malignant diseases of lymphoreticular origin which arise in the lymph nodes or in the lymphoid tissues of parenchymal organs such as the gut, lung, or skin. In humans, 90% of cases of Hodgkin's disease originate in lymphnodes, whereas the remaining 10% are of extranodal origin. Human non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, of ten involve tissues of parenchymal organs with 60% of these lymphomas originating in the lymphnodes and 40% having an extranodal origin.
In the dog, lymphoma is the most common hemopoietic tumor. It is an autochthonous, spontaneously occurring neoplasm in an outbred animal. Most dogs with lymphoma present generalized lymphadenophathy and hepatosplenomegaly. Other sites of involvement include anterior mediastinal, pulmonary, intestinal, cutaneous lymphnodes and other extranodal forms. (Dorn, et al., American Journal of Veterinary Research, 28: 993, 1967). The histological classification is that of the poor prognosis types which are found in man (Bloomfield, et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 301: 512, 1979). Based on the National Cancer Institute Working Formulation For Human Lymphoma Pathologic Classification (The Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma Pathologic Classification Project, Cancer, 49: 2112, 1987), the majority of canine cases would be defined as high grade types. In addition, canine lymphoma responds to the same chemotherapeutic drugs as those used in humans, for example, prednisone, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin and L-asparaginase (Macewen, et al., Journal Of The American Veterinary Medical Association, 178: 1178, 1981).
Canine lymphoma resembles human non-Hodgkins lymphoma in pathological presentation, response of tumor cells to the same cytotoxic agents, correlation of immunophenotyping of cell surface markers to histological classification and response to therapy, and in distribution of B, T, and non-T, non-B cell lymphomas (Applebaum, et al., Hematology And Oncology, 2: 151, 1984; Carter, et al., Canadian Journal Of Veterinary Research, 50: 154, 1986). Canine lymphoma, therefore, represents a good model for comparative studies with human lymphoma due to the close behavioral similarities of lymphoma seen in these species.